>> right now at 11:00 for the second time in as many months crews battle a fire at a metal recycling yard on the peninsula with smoke billowing into the skies. the company is now responding to safety concerns. sflirchlts plus, one final set of tests done on a young girl now brain dead after a routine surgery. the move the family just made about whether to keep her on life support. then ironic development about a house that slid down a san francisco hillside. the surprised owner of that home. nbc bay area news starts right now. good morning to you. thank you for joining us. i'm peggy bunker. >> i'm terry mcsweeney. crews have controlled a fire burning all morning long at sims metal management in redwood city. that's on seaport boulevard

along the bay. nbc bay area's chase cain is live in redwood city. chase, this is not the first time crews have been called out to this scrap metal yard. >> reporter: no, terry, it is not. plenty have people have asked us questions about that same thing. what is going on here? >> they also say it is still just too soon to know what happened. >> from overhead you can see the size of the flames at sims metal management. a fire that burned for nearly seven hours. firefighters say an explosion sparked the flames igniting a pile of scrap appliances 25 feet high and 75 feet wide. >> what we're doing is it's being systematically removed, broken apart, placed on the conveyor and taken up the conveyor and shredded and cooled and put out. >> but before redwood city fire could put it out, embers blew

over to three cement trucks parked nearby, lighting them on fire too. the november 10th fire was much larger, burned longer, and spewed pollution into the air, raising plenty of questions. >> it's an issue that we have to look at, evaluate. we are still investigating the last fire, and we're investigating this fire, and we're -- we cannot determine a cause, but we're not going to leave any stone unturned. we are going to uncover what is going on. we do not -- we need to understand why these fires are happening just as much as i know the public would like us to tell them. >> reporter: now, sims says since that last fire in november they have kept smaller stockpiles at the facility, and they say that's the big reason why this fire was not as big and

not as serious as the last one. they also told us that they've installed new technology to help them find where hot spots may be in a pile of materials. of course, there are still questions about why there have now been two fires in just a month and a half. live here in redwood city, chase cain, nbc bay area news. >> whim the fire is not helping out the air quality, which has been rough as of late, meteorologist christina loren. morning haze here hanging over the bay right now. >>. >> it should be a nice warm afternoon. overall it's hazy out there. >> all right. sounds pretty good. just a little technical glitch there. as we take a look at some of the haze here, you can see what we're talking about with a lot of that snow hanging overhead and, of course, these issues with the air that's been pretty rough.

>> we'll get back to that too. >> a story that we do want to bring you, that rare winter wildfire is burning just a few hours south of the bay area. and fueled by gusty winds that we're grappling with. it's burning in the los padres national forest. that's right by big sur. it's forced evacuations of dozens of others. it has already burned about 560 acres. it's only about 5% contained. hundreds of firefighters are on scene right now. we did check with local agencies, and so far there's been no request for aid. >> this morning doctors at children's hospital oakland performed a final set of tests on a teenager who became brain dead after a routine surgery, but her family is not ready to give up.

>> ban hour ago we saw the stepfather jump out of a car at the intersection here at children's hospital. he went running right past us. said he had to hurry up and deliver some legal papers inside. the family gave me a copy of what that was, and they said that basically it's a cease and desist order from their attorney that says that the hospital should take no action to remove the girl from life support. the family said a prayer outside the hospital as one last test was given this morning to see if the girl has any brain activity at all. the family says that children's is directing them to take her off life support. the girl came here last monday to get her tonsils out, and that was supposed to help with her leap apnea, but something went wrong. after the procedure the family says that she was up and had -- they say that later she kept bleeding from her mouth and nose and went into cardiac arrest.

later, she was declared legally brain dead. her more says her heart is pumping, and they just can't give up. >> i can feel -- i just feel her. can i feel my daughter. i just kind of feel like maybe she's trapped inside of her own body, and she wants to scream out and tell me something. that's why every time i go in there, i let her know i will not let hem take to you the coroner's office. i won't. i believe she can hear everything that's going on around. >> this is a cease and desist letter to stop children's hospital from moving without our consent, okay? if they move without our consent after having this letter in their hands, they're just creating more problems for themselves. okay? >> reporter: now, her uncle shared that letter this morning outside. we reached out to children's hospital who earlier expressed their condolences and said that what happened was under review, but because of the family's request, they could not say more. we're told the family's attorney may be out here a little later. the family also expected to come

down later as well. they're also telling me that they're hoping to get their own doctor in here to take a look and give an opinion as well. that's the latest from here reporting live in oakland, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> christie, thank you. we are learning new details about a home that slid down a hillside in san francisco. it turns out it belongs to a man who once served as the city's building inspection commission. take a look at this house right now. it was under construction in the twin peaks neighborhood. you can see it collapse and slid down the hillside overnight. the home is owned by 67-year-old mel murphy. he was a member of the building inspection commission overseeing the enforcement of the city's building and housing laws. >> it sounded like a dump truck emptying its load. it was in my house and heard this crashing and came outside and didn't hear anything or see anything after i got outside, so didn't think anything else was going on. about five minutes later the fire trucks and the police trucks were coming down the street. >> now, no one was in the home when it collapsed.

no injuries are reported. >> in san francisco a park worker accused of running over and killing a young mother with his work truck is back in court today. 57-year-old thomas bernoski faces felony vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run. back in september police say he ran over 35-year-old christine spanamire in the burney heights district. she was lying in the grass with her baby and dog. they were not hurt. he has been suspended without pay from the parks department. also san francisco court has sheriff's deputy accused of robbing a bank of america branch at 30th avenue and balboa in the city's richmond district. 36-year-old phillip is charged with robbery and burglary. he walked into the branch last november and presented the bank teller with a note. the teller did give him the $1,700 requested, and he left the bank. tsong has recently declared bankruptcy, and he is in court for a preliminary hearing. the fbi is on a lookout sfor a man they're dubbing the bad beard bandit. they say this man has robbed at least five banks in northern

california, including one in sunnyvale. all over the last eight weeks. each time he is wearing a fake beard like the one you see in these surveillance pictures that's obviously a fake beard. that's why they call him the bad beard bandit. the fbi says he is dangerous. if you know who he is, they would like to know. several sunnyvale residents plan to file a lawsuit in federal court today in response to the city's new gun control law. the lawsuit will be filed by attorneys from the law firms michelle and associates and has reported by the nra. among other things, the city's recently passed measure c bans magazines holding more than ten rounds. the ban also applies to off duty police officers and hunters just passing through. backers of the lawsuit say the second amendment protects those making sfleenz for self-defense and sporting purposes. major crimes in san jose have spiked above both the state and national averages. just three years ago the city's major crime rate was 35% below both of those averages. according to the city auditor's

annual report san jose's crime rate is 3% above the california average. 1% above the u.s. average. higher even than l.a. and san diego. reports say that last year san jose's police made 17,000 arrests. that's down from about 36,000 in 2007, so less than half. in addition to climbing crime rates, the average emergency response time in san jose, they're increasing. in 2005 the average response time for a priority two emergency call was 8.2 minutes, and this year it's 20.3 minutes. response time for priority one calls rose slightly to 6.7 minutes above the six minutes or less target. part of the reason the slimdown police force, and the city cut pay for police officers by 10%. san jose has lost or laid off hundreds of officers. the oakland pair who uses evangelical radio network and billboards to broadcast the end of the world is dead. family radio network says that harold camping died at his home

on sunday. he had been hospitalized after a fall. camping first predicted the rap tour would happen in 1994. he predicted it again in may of 2011 and then again five months later. when judgment defendant's exhibit did not come to pass after his third prediction, he took refuge in a hotel. camping was 92 years old. it will be a merry christmas after all for one bay area nonprofit. >> that's right. what's being done to make sure that hundreds of scooters and skateboards make it through customs in time for the big day. >> plus, we'll have the latest on that meeting between high-tech execs and the white house. coming up in business and technology. >> and good morning. i'm bob riddell. we'll take you live to the stick for what turns out to be a behind the scenes fair well tour. that story coming up. >> sad to see it go. one thing i'm not going to be sad to see go, the haze. it is so hazy out there. i want to show you this camera. this is from foster city facing redwood city where that fire is burning. fire actually is getting contained right now, but i can

tell you that smoke smell is strong in san jose. we're going to tell you why and what's going to clarify all this, purify us, over the next couple of days. good news in the weather department coming up. [ female announcer ] here's to a whole world

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>> it is time to start saying your good-bye to the stick. the 9ers game will be the last one to be played at candlestick park. >> bob is there live down on the field. we'll look forward to checking in with him and a lot of people getting pretty sent mrejts e mental there. >> i spent a lot of time at candlestick park. it did what it did, and now it's gone. >> now it's gone. just like that. in the meantime, high-tech ceos are in washington right now meeting with the president to talk about the broken health care.gov website, and also -- >> scott mcgrew, progress on at

least one of those issues. >> yes, good morning. the white house has appointed a former microsoft vice president to run the health care.gov site. as you well know, the site was not ready for launch and has been suffering ever since. the tech execs are also talking with president obama about nsa spying. tech in silicon valley, very angry and embarrassed about the revolution that the cloud and your e-mail nowhere near as secure as maybe we had been advertising. this comes after a judge in the separate issue ruled the nsa's collection of call data is likely unconstitutional. it's not a firm ruling. it's a district judge in the federal system. there are lots of courts above him, and he did stay the decision. that is, he won't forbid the nsa from collecting your call data until he hears more from the government. the nsa recently did admit it collects the data of tens of millions of americans. they do not record the content of your call, but they do record who you call and for how long.

back to you. >> scott, thanks very much. as we mentioned earlier, it has come time to say good-bye to that big ballpark in san francisco candle stick park. >> nbc's bay area, bob riddell there on the field. you're getting the farewell tour. >> reporter: good morning to you, peggy and terry. here at candlestick stadium, monday night football the 49ers will be playing. this will be the last game. the last time the stadium will see an audience after 53 years. you think of all the superlatives or milestones the stadium has seen. it was one of the most modern stayed wrums at the time. the first to convert to be a baseball and football stadium. one of the first to go from natural gas to astroturf, and you think of some of the big events here. 1966 the beatles played here, and little did people know that that was going to be their last concert. the stage is right out there in the center of the field. maybe i'm just going to guess 50 yards. we're told that they dressed in the visitors locker room.

they actually had an armored car take them out to the field so they get on the stage. the capacity of 43,000 people in the stadium. only 30,000 showed up. the weather was crummy, and not many people knew this would be their last concert. for 35 years this man right here, michael gay, has been the stadium chief. you were here for the catch in 1982. talking about joe montana. dwight clark got them their first super bowl. what do you remember about that? >> at the time i was just an engineer here. it was probably my third year, i believe, here. all i remember about it is it was a misty, rainy day, and we had problems that whole weekend with flooding in the parking lot, which a lot of people probably don't remember that. i had been here since friday morning, and this was sunday, the game. >> sure. >> pumping the parking lot out. i believe it was sunday. a long time ago. >> you walked down on the field? >> i was up in section 18. we were walking around. we had come back from working on an escalator, and i heard a

bunch of noise. you know, like people chanting and stul stuff like that. we looked to the opening. as i looked through there, we seen dwight clark make the catch, and it didn't kick in right away. my partner you was with, he said, you know, they're going to go to the super bowl, and that was it. >> i know you're not going to miss the port-a perform poltys and the collapsable seats. this has been your baby for 35 years, so i'm sure there's something you are going to miss. >> hosting 49er games. been very fortunate to host a lot of nfc championship games, playoff games. did he they dominated the 1980s and 1990s, the 49ers. this is the game in town all the time, and kind of going to miss that because it's going to be going down to santa clara. candlestick will be just candlestick without the 49ers. >> what's this monday night going to be like for you after the game is over? >> i won't know until after the game. >> best of luck to you.

congratulations. thank you very much, mike gay, the stadium chief here at candlestick for the past 35 years until monday night which after 53 years of this stadium being in existence, that will be it. reporting live here at the stick, bob riddell, nbc bay area news. >> a lot of history there. >> good and bad. >> right. >> christmas presents caught up in red tape. going to get to a local nonprofit in time for christmas, it looks like. >> for the family giving tree at menlo park. oakland due to security issue. kumpls did a random search and decided it needed to do another check. this morning the port says it is working to expedite the process and deliver those toys to the family giving tree. it will be hap christmas for a lot of kids. the shipment includes 900 scooters and skateboards. those are the hot ticket item. kids love them. >> 900. we see a lot of kids, and we mean a lot of kids. >> indeed. >> let's go to christina loren right now and see what's going on. we have haze. we got warm weather.

we got changes on the way. christina. >> we need these changes as well. good morning to you. terry, peggy, everybody who is joining us at home, maybe you're in the office right now, i can tell you we are twoing see some improvement, but it's hard to believe just how bad that air quality is. i had never seen it this bad here in the bay area. this is our tenth consecutive spare the air day. we hit a record. once we hit that. now we're on day ten. hopefully tomorrow with an area of low pressure coming through, we will see some improvement. i do want to show you this particular camera. this is from foster city facing south towards redwood city where that fire was previously burning at a metal scrap yard. what i can tell you right now is downtown san jose, just about everywhere you go you can really smell that burning metal in the atmosphere. it's really strong out there. you guys will see it or smell, it i should say, once you walk out your front door. keep in mind if you can smell it, it could be dangerous to your health, and santa clara county, unified school district, teachers have been asked to keep the students indoors because it's so bad out there.

you can actually see the plume of smoke if it wasn't so hazy, but look at all of our various cameras across the bay area. same haze where i sky. you'll find the best air quality towards the coast today. that's where we have the strongest wind. they're getting a little mixing in our atmosphere. a lot of mixing headed our way as we get into the end of the week. this is what we're talking about when it comes to your air quality. area of low pressure arises. we head through tomorrow. that means a little bit of improvement. i wouldn't be shocked to see another spare the air day as we get into your wednesday, but by thursday and friday in particular, looking towards much healthier levels, which is good news. a lot of kids have had to stay indarz at recess time because it's been so bad. this is where we're headed. unseasonably warm for today. haze where i sunshine. getting into your wednesday. cleaner air quality, and by thursday cool temps and fierce wind comes into the picture, and that could impact holiday travel. you do want to keep that in mind. we're focussing in on this as we head for wednesday night into thursday. that's that strong wind coming

in. overall, looking pretty good. seven-day forecast at the bottom of your screen, shows you we're going to warm back up towards the end of the weekend. back to you, terry and peggy. >> thanks. that wind is good news getting rid of all this dirty air. thanks so much. still to come, good enough for the super bowl. not good enough for college football. why levi stadium won't be the home of the 2017 national title game.

santa clara has lost out on a big-time football game because the city simply is not big enough to host. >> 2017 college football national championship game not going to be played there. it's going to be played in tampa bay with the buccaneers playing. college football playoff committee says levi stadium does not have enough nearby hotel rooms and no track record of hosting big games. it hasn't opened yet. that's despite the fact the city

will be hosting the super bowl a year earlier in 2016. however, hosting the super bowl activities will be held in san yifk. >> the selection committee says it will be more comfortable choosing levi after it's been in operation for a couple of years. >> we'll be back after the break. we got to talk about this.

>> before we leave we have breaking news for you. >> we do want to tell you about a gas leak in san jose. a construction crew working at morrison hit a gas line there. >> two blocks from the s.a.p. center. pg&e aware of the issue. san jose fire crews are on their way to that scene. much more, of course, tonight on nbc bay area news at 5:00 and 6:00. >> that's right. we'll keep our -- we'll keep watching. that is a construction crew that hit it. we'll bring you the latest dooults details coming up at 5:00. meantime, have a great day. >> take care. 6

i thought tracy was getting here at noon. movie stars move at their own pace, liz. we have to accommodate them. yeah, well, a lot of people are still upset about tracy joining the show. that's not my problem. i have other things on my plate. you hear about that chemical factory explosion outside of colorado springs? no. good. (man) all right, here he comes. i just think when it comes to this whole tracy thing, it's best to tread lightly. [band playing celebration] no, no, no. stop, stop. stop, stop. it's just us. lemon, to tread lightly is your job. my job is to keep tracy jordan happy. girls, girls, girls. let's save it for mr. jordan. studio 68 is where we do the girlie show. did you all see tracy jordan make a special appearance the other night? wasn't that exciting? that is what we in the show business like to call a "cameo." hey, this is the star of the girlie show,